The matchups went Smithsburg's way early, and the Leopards held on to beat the No. 6 Wildcats, 38-34.

The matchups went Smithsburg's way early, and the Leopards held on to beat the No. 6 Wildcats, 38-34.

WILLIAMSPORT - If wrestlers had pockets on the front of their singlets, their sport might be confused for full-contact chess.

Even with all the blood, sweat, tears and dieting the sport entails, the outcome may be settled on the mat but the direction of the match is decided in the locker room.

"We got the matchups we wanted," Smithsburg coach Joe Dietrich said. "It's all about the matchups."

The matchups were like drawing an inside straight to the Leopards who took control of the match in the heavier weights before weathering the storm for a 38-34 victory to turn back the Wildcats in their turn-back-the-clock match.

With the match starting at 140, Smithsburg won seven of the first eight bouts and owned a 35-6 lead after Justin Mackrell notched a pin over T.J. Wallech in the 275 bout.

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The Wildcats may have been down, but weren't out of the match with six bouts to go. Jabari Emanuel began to turn the tide with a 13-4 major decision over Logan Miss at 103 followed by Mike McGill's 35-second pin of Chris DeJesus at 112.

Add a couple of forfeits at 119 and 125 and suddenly Williamsport was within 35-28 with two bouts left.

"We matched up well, but we figured we couldn't give up many pins," Williamsport coach Chuck Martin said. "These two teams are pretty even and there will be a lot of close matches coming up in the tournaments. (Williamsport's) four coaches talked about the match and analyzed their lineup but we decided to stay with what we have. If we had made a couple of moves, it might have been different, but we left it up to our upperclassmen."

The signature bout of the match came at 130 when Smithsburg's Adam Roane dominated the first five minutes, building a 9-3 lead over Ryan Bowers. But Bowers countered with a reversal leading to a near fall as the final buzzer sounded to just fall short in a 9-8 decision, which sealed the match for the Leopards.

"There were several big matches today," Dietrich said. "The OT match and 140 was big. So were the ones at 160 and 171. (Williamsport) has beaten us over the last few years. They have been the big ones on the county scene. This is a good win for us. A really great team effort."

Even Corey Leggett's pin in 3:26 over Tony Cacciola at 130 came too late for the Wildcats to steal the victory away. The match - and the chess match - was over much too soon for Williamsport.

"I wish we would have had that last match first to get some things started," said Martin, who wore his high school letter sweater as part of the throwback day. "We felt the matchups were in our favor though ... the matchups are everything."